Linda Cardellini Explains the Origin of Jason Voorhees Sound

The distinctive sound associated with Jason Voorhees has a surprising origin: it was created to represent his mother, Pamela Voorhees, in the original Friday the 13th movie. Linda Cardellini, who plays Pamela in the upcoming Peacock prequel Crystal Lake, explained the sound's history during an October 7, 2026, appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

During the NBC interview, Cardellini confirmed that the recognizable audio cue will appear in Crystal Lake, the prequel produced by A24 and Peacock. She also described how composer Harry Manfredini developed the effect for the 1980 horror film, in which Pamela, rather than her son Jason, is revealed as the killer.

Fallon asked whether the familiar sound would feature in the new series, referring to the repeated syllables associated with the killer's perspective in the franchise.

"Yes, yes, yes," Cardellini confirmed.

Fallon then offered his understanding of the sound's original meaning, suggesting it came from a phrase about killing and a mother.

"I heard a rumor that originally, it was, 'Kill, kill, kill, ma, ma, ma," Fallon said.

Cardellini clarified the phrase behind the sound and explained how Manfredini transformed it into the effect audiences recognize.

"Yes, 'Kill them, mommy, kill them,'' Cardellini clarified. "And then [composer Harry] Manfredini took the first syllables and then hit them with reverb, and made the ki-ki-ki-ma-ma-ma. That's what I heard, too. That's the story!"

Fallon reacted to the explanation with renewed appreciation for the unsettling sound.

"That makes it even scarier than the real thing, oh my God," Fallon said.

Cardellini also acknowledged the significance of her character's role in the original story.

"Spoiler alert: I'm the mommy that kills everybody," Cardellini announced.

The exchange revisited a creative decision that helped establish the original film's atmosphere despite the killer's limited screen time. In a 2015 interview with Gun, Manfredini explained that the sound was designed to identify the killer's presence before the character appeared onscreen.

"The dramatic problem with Friday the 13th in the original film was that you never saw the killer until reel nine," Manfredini said.

Manfredini, who composed the original film's music, said he needed an audio signal that would let audiences recognize the killer's perspective without relying on visible appearances.

"But somehow or other, I wanted to create a presence for the killer in the movie — so that it wasn't just the cameraman shooting. We wanted the audience to know, 'Uh oh, this is the killer," Manfredini continued.

He traced the idea to the film's ending, when actress Betsy Palmer appears as Pamela Voorhees. According to Manfredini, a close-up of her mouth and a line involving Jason's voice provided the inspiration for the sound.

"It finally dawned on me. At the end, Betsy Palmer, when she finally appears in the film, there's a closeup of her mouth. And her voice goes from Jason's voice to her voice going, 'Kill her mommy!'" Manfredini said.

Manfredini explained that the phrase suggested a way to connect the killer's identity to the recurring sound. He used the initial sounds of the words and processed his recorded voice to create the final effect.

"At that point I said to myself, 'She hears voices all the time.' So I just said, 'Kill her mommy,' and I took the 'Ki.' And then for 'Mommy' I just went 'Ma.' In the score, whenever there was dialogue and it was a cut to the killer, I just wrote in the score, 'KM' and then I went up to a microphone ... and then we ran it through something called an Echoplex machine."

The recording technique gave the sound its distinctive quality and provided a recurring cue for scenes shown from the killer's perspective. Manfredini described how the finished effect helped audiences identify the threat.

"I just dropped it in and then: Okay, now we know it's the killer," Manfredini said.

Crystal Lake expands the Friday the 13th story by returning to Pamela Voorhees and the events surrounding her son. Cardellini's appearance on The Tonight Show offered viewers a look at how the prequel will connect with one of the original franchise's best-known audio elements.